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Military police investigate beating of palestinian Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/457380.htmlhttp://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/457380.html
Last update - 23:36 28/07/2004
Military Police to investigate suspected beating of Palestinian
By Yoav Stern, Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondents, and Haaretz Service
Military Police were ordered Wednesday to investigate an incident in which Israel Defense Forces soldiers allegedly struck and injured a Palestinian at a checkpoint in the West Bank the day before.
The incident was reported by eyewitnesses at the scene. The IDF initially disputed their account.
The IDF reported that Mahmoud Hanini, 23, cursed at soldiers at the Beit Furik checkpoint, who restrained him by force after he attempted to attack them.
B'Tselem, an Israeli human rights organization, said a soldier struck Hanini in the head with a helmet following an argument, and that Hanini needed medical care as a result.
Following the B'Tselem report, a field investigation was carried out and it was determined that Hanini fabricated the story. The head of the IDF's Central Command also reached this conclusion. The Central Command's prosecutor nevertheless ruled that the incident should be investigated further.
Hanini, a resident of Beit Furik, said he was trying to return home from Nablus, and that after being stopped at the checkpoint, he requested to lean against one of the walls. Soldiers insisted that he sit facing the wall. He refused, and an argument broke out, which ended, he said, in four soldiers attacking him and striking him with fists and rifle butts. One of the soldiers struck him in the head with a helmet, causing him to lose consciousness, Hanini said.
B'Tselem said the soldiers tried to prevent their activists from coming to Hanini's aid.
Soldier shoots at Palestinian student
The incident comes two days after a soldier allegedly tortured and shot a Palestinian student at the Ein Eiba checkpoint, north of Nablus.
The IDF has called the Ein Eiba case serious and said that the soldier, who is being investigated for improper shooting and disobeying procedures, was "out of control."
The soldier was seen beating and then shooting wildly at Mohammed Canaan, 26, a student at Al-Najah University in Nablus, in spite of other soldiers' attempts to restrain him. The wounds thus inflicted sent Canaan to hospital.
Military police arrested the soldier at his commander's request.
Canaan was trying to leave the city for his home near the northern West Bank town of Jenin, but the soldier at the checkpoint refused to let him pass.
Investigations revealed that an argument then broke out between Canaan and the soldier, whose name has not been disclosed. Canaan apparently called the soldier a liar, at which point the soldier grabbed him and started slamming his head into a concrete structure.
"I asked to see an officer and the soldier attacked me," Canaan said from his hospital bed Sunday. "He cursed my mother and father and punched me, so I punched him back. Then he aimed his rifle at my chest and threatened to kill me. Other soldiers took away his gun and tried to subdue him."
Other soldiers tried to restrain their companion. Canaan tried to flee in the melee, but the soldier freed himself, grabbed another gun and shot Canaan in the arm.
Naomi Lalo, an activist with Machsom Watch, a group of Israeli women who monitor checkpoints for abuse, witnessed the entire incident. Other volunteers filmed the scene.
"We saw [Canaan] covered in blood with a hole in his arm," Lalo said.
Canaan was recuperating in a Nablus hospital last night, an accidental hero for the Palestinians and an embarrassment to Israel. His situation is improving.
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